Brain Rules: Exercise and CV's Mosaic Collective

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I just started Brain Rules by John Medina, and it already has me thinking.

The first section of the book is about brain power and exercise. The information - that in essence, exercise provides more oxygen to the brain and therefore makes it work better - wasn't new to me, but it was something I had brushed off in the past as implausible to incorporate regularly in my classroom. I got nervous thinking about taking 30 students on a walk and expecting them all to get the benefit of exercise AND learn Spanish. With CV's Mosaic Collective though, it seems like anything is possible!


Just to emphasize the point, this salient quote from Brain Rules is something I wish administrations all over the country had considered before they cut recess in favor of more standardized test preparation:

Brain activation studies show that children and adolescents who are fit allocate more cognitive resources to a task and do so for longer periods of time.

Furthermore, "fluid intelligence" is what suffers most from lack of exercise. This is what we use to access and synthesize information in order to effectively solve problems: arguably the most important brain power we need to help our students develop. And just a little bit of exercise goes a long way.

Since this seems to be right up Mosaic's alley, how can exercise be incorporated to help our students? The author mentions bringing treadmills into the classroom. Treadmills? I don't think that's the space we're envisioning. And in beautiful Colorado? Once again, I think not.

Still, I want to give it a shot. I'm thinking of encouraging my Mosaic students, in groups of 3ish, to sign up for a "Paseo en español" (Stroll in Spanish) periodically. I want to take them outside if possible, because sun is good for us too! The "Paseo", conducted in Spanish, will entail my students catching up with me, telling me about their projects, talking to me about what they're reading*, or discussing a topic that I elected based on their proficiency goals. It will get them a bit of exercise while practicing to improve their interpersonal and presentational proficiency in Spanish.

How else might exercise be incorporated into Mosaic? 

With which contents will it fit best? 

Does it need to be worked in with content or 

can exercise be incorporated for the sake of exercise?

*Keep an eye out for an upcoming post about using reading to address the needs of students entering Mosaic with little to no experience with Spanish.